Canoga Park murder victims' family speaks out

Family members of a mother and daughter who were murdered last week are speaking out. The bodies of 21-year-old Martha Carmona and her 6-year-old daughter were found in their home Friday afternoon. The family is absolutely shaken. All day Monday there were young men at the gate, watching guard. It is as if they expect the killer to come back. But they have no idea who the killer is and the police don't have a suspect either.

There's evidence Martha Carmona and her daughter were targeted.

"It's animal. Who do it, it's an animal? No, it's a human being," said family friend Gloria Nieves.

Martha Carmona, 21, was fixing lunch with Valeria, her 6-year-old daughter. Someone, perhaps even a person they knew, walked through the kitchen door of their Canoga Park home and stabbed them both to death.

"I don't think it's somebody who hates this family because it's really nice persons," said Nieves.

Martha Carmona the elder grieves for her slain daughter and granddaughter. The extended family lived in a house on Remmet Ave. for 17 years. Martha became pregnant with Valeria when she was 14. Valeria's dad moved in. According to family and friends, they've been a tight family ever since.

Police say that Valeria's father is not a suspect, and that the murders are not gang-related. Police also believe that the killer didn't come to rob the place either.

"Is a computer, is a TV. They don't take anything. They come only to kill her and her daughter," said Nieves.

Martha Carmona, the grandmother, says they are hard-working people. Martha was a cashier at Sears. Valeria's father repairs tires.

There are questions whether the killer was a vagrant.

"Maybe somebody who was in jail before and come to this street," said Nieves.

Yet police say the killer seemed keyed in on the innocent mother and child. Martha Carmona the elder says they had no enemies.

And so the family and police are asking the public for clues.

Anyone who has information about the case is asked to call LAPD at (877) LAPD-24-7. Tips can be left anonymously.